René Ashton has revealed she and Matthew Perry had sex on Bruce Willis’ private jet.
The 56-year-old actress, who dated the late “Friends” star in 1999, made the disclosure in Netflix’s new three-part documentary “The One About Matthew Perry,” which premiered this week. Ashton recounted how Willis invited the couple to join him and his then-girlfriend on a trip to Turks and Caicos before filming “The Whole Nine Yards.”
“He’s like, ‘Bruce wants us to go on his private plane. Bruce wants me to share a plane with him,'” Ashton recalled Perry telling her. She added that Perry, then 29, was “so excited” about traveling on the “Die Hard” star’s aircraft.
When an offscreen producer pressed her about what happened during the flight, Ashton replied with a grin, “I joined a club.” The actress described the overall getaway as “pretty amazing,” noting the lack of paparazzi made for “a nice, normal and fun trip.”
Ashton and Perry’s romance lasted roughly a year before ending in December 1999. During their relationship, she grew increasingly worried about his alcohol struggles and reached out to his father, John Bennett Perry, seeking help. Despite the difficulties, Ashton emphasized in the documentary that she was “in love” with the actor because he was “at the core, good people.”
The documentary arrives more than a year after Perry was found dead in his hot tub in October 2023 at age 54. A coroner later determined his cause of death as “acute effects of ketamine,” combined with drowning, coronary artery disease and buprenorphine effects.
Ashton’s account adds a personal dimension to the portrait of Perry during a pivotal period of his life. The trip to Turks and Caicos came just before Perry and Willis would co-star in “The Whole Nine Yards,” a 2000 crime comedy that marked one of Perry’s early major film roles following his breakthrough on “Friends.”
The Netflix project joins a growing body of posthumous material examining Perry’s life, his battles with addiction, and his relationships. Ashton had not previously spoken publicly in such detail about their time together.
Willis’ representative did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Ashton’s claims about the private plane.
“The One About Matthew Perry” is now streaming on Netflix.